I usually don’t comment on political developments, as I have an extremely low opinion of all (or almost all) politicians.
One hopes that politicians know what they are doing; I know that a lot of information from sensitive sources can’t be divulged to the public without risking informants’ lives and American security.
BUT
One does have to wonder what Obama is up to. Apparently Hilary persuaded him to take military action in Libya to prevent a massacre.
Obama delayed and decided to take action at last moment, not leaving any time to consult Congress, much less get its approval. Why couldn’t France and England handle it alone?
The Allies may have temporarily prevented a massacre, but without ground troops in Libya how are they going to prevent one indefinitely? Rifles and machine guns can kill people just as well as tanks and artillery can, and it is hard to pick off riflemen and machine gunners with fighter-bombers.
If Kaddafi is left in power, he will make life miserable for the rest of the world. All Obama will have accomplished is killing some of his soldiers, but not enough to make any long-term difference.
I hope Obama knows what he is doing, but he is giving everyone the impression he is reacting moment-by-moment, and does not have a long-range plan or an exit strategy.
American presidents are largely constrained by outside forces, military and economic, and do not act all that differently, whatever their campaign promises or the expectations they raised among their supporters. Obama contuse the war in Afghanistan, continues the prison at Guantanamo. And now has entered another war in Libya without congressional approval. The difference from Bush is not visible to the naked eye.
We must remember to pray for our President Obama who has inherited one mess after another from the Bush years. My naked eye can see plenty of differences between Obama and Bush. Obama can think and speak a clear sentence. He is aware of history and does not start wars to avenge his father’s assassination attempt. To compare President Obama to George W. Bush, especially in these trying times, seems disingenuous at best.
AW
bush had a prior state of war, unresolved from his Dad, a perceived threat to US, AND went to Congress. Obama is acting blatantly unconstitutionally…..The difference between Bush and Obama is quite different to the naked eye, but is the opposite of the one you are looking for.
Strange how the autocrat was tolerated for four decades Libya. Stranger still is that the whole region is in rebellion . Yemen and Syria recently joining the ranks of unrest. Most Americans are swallowing the lie that these countries want Democracy…..But the bottom line is lack of jobs due to the redistribution of the global economy and ensueing economic depression.The Saudis have even given money to their citizens to calm the angst.While Syria promises more jobs and a higher standard of living. Would that this could be here in our country too, while little notice is paid to the homeless families living in tents and old motels on the highways and byways.
Contra Augusta, I don’t see a whiff of difference between GWB and Obama, except that the former paid lip service to the prolife cause, whereas the latter seems to have elevated Planned Parenthood to a cabinet level department. Conservatives use the lie of spreading democracy to start wars, while liberals use the lie of a humanitarian mission. Both act without hubris and without restraint, while innocent blood of civilians and soldiers spills. This country needs two things: reinstitution of the draft and a serious third party challenge. I think our tendency to bomb our way out of our problems will then disappear.
Mere Catholic, I think you are essentially right. But, I do not understand how the reinstitution of the draft would help anything. What I remember of the draft was that wealthy parents could send their sons off to graduate school or divinity school or in some other way pull political wires to get exemptions. OTOH poor lesser educated parents just had to send their sons off to Vietnam from whence after a few months or even weeks, they came home in a box. My first husband was a career Air Force man who served one year in Vietnam. He made sure that his brother knew how to fix things so that his oldest nephew would not be drafted.
Does anyone remember that General Hershey cried when the draft was outlawed? I have never been able to figure that out.
Perhaps all those men who went to seminary to get out of the draft became part of the problem in the deterioration of American church life.
Leon, et al, there’s a big difference between Pres. Bush’s and Pres. Obama’s policies. Bush formulated his in response to 9/11, in which the United States was “suddenly and deliberately attacked,” to quote FDR. His rationale for attacking Iraq, WMD (even if proven to be false later), reflected that response. Obama formulated his in concert with the liberal academic orthodoxy of using the “international community” to contain problems.
Frankly, I don’t see or give a damn about all the hand-wringing. Qadaffi is a maniacal butcher. He deserves whatever he gets, whether from his own people or from the “international community.” Remember, this bastard effectively attacked the United States when his agents bombed an American airliner in 1988, murdering hundreds.
Frankly, I am so sick and tired of supposed “Christians,” Catholic and otherwise, believing that they are too precious and intellectual to fight geopolitical evil.
Janice, problems with draft-dodging aside, I think the American people would be less tolerant of wars being fought in their name if they were just as likely to be personally affected by the war as their neighbor. It’s easier to ignore what happens halfway across the world, even to American soldiers, when that soldier is not your son/daughter, brother/sister, etc.
Perhaps all those men who went to seminary to get out of the draft became part of the problem in the deterioration of American church life.
Janice, there is more wisdom in those words than you realize….